IF YOU GO

Riverside will hold a hearing on the investigation into complaints against Councilman Mike Soubirous.

WHAT: Riverside council members will discuss investigation findings and decide whether to take any action against Soubirous

WHEN: 1 p.m. Tuesday

WHERE: 3900 Main St., Riverside

Riverside Councilman Mike Soubirous said he plans to attend next week’s public hearing about a city investigation of complaints against him, even though he considers it a “witch hunt.”

The council will hold a hearing Tuesday on the results of an investigation into complaints that Soubirous interfered with the job performance of City Manager Scott Barber and Police Chief Sergio Diaz, which would violate the city charter. The investigation and hearing are the first of their kind anyone in Riverside can remember.

The complaints, filed by Barber and Diaz, are based on an alleged conversation at a Feb. 14 meeting between Soubirous and Riverside Police Officers Association President Brian Smith.

Smith has said that Soubirous claimed the council was ready to fire Barber and Diaz if they didn’t address problems with transients and panhandlers. Soubirous has denied threatening their jobs.

The report from investigator Leonard Gumport was inconclusive. Because Smith and Soubirous disagree on what the councilman said at their meeting and there are no other witnesses, “it would require undue speculation” to determine whose story is accurate, Gumport wrote.

Soubirous declined to be be interviewed for the investigation, instead providing written answers to questions, but he said he plans to attend the hearing and make a statement. He questioned the fairness of the procedure and said he doesn’t see anything in the charter giving council members the power to investigate or punish him.

“They don’t have the right to judge me,” he said. “There’s no guidelines or rules to even allow this.”

A memo from Mayor Rusty Bailey on the hearing procedures doesn’t cite any specific charter section or other regulation that spells out rules for such proceedings. City officials have declined to discuss the investigation.

The memo says the council’s options include taking no action, publicly censuring Soubirous, removing him from committees or other posts, and referring the matter to the district attorney’s office, since violations of the city charter are considered misdemeanors.

Smith also plans to make comments at the hearing. He said the report should be described as incomplete rather than inconclusive, since Soubirous refused to let Gumport interview him.

Smith said he would have nothing to gain by making up a story about what Soubirous said. “As a law enforcement officer, if I am proven to be less than credible, that’s potentially career-ending,” he said.

A second investigation, of Councilman Paul Davis for similar charter violation allegations, was recently completed but the city has not released a report on the findings. A hearing on that investigation is scheduled in August.

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